HP 67 tri-color · standard

The HP 67 tri-color is the standard-size color cartridge for HP's current budget inkjets. Eight printers in our database use it: the DeskJet 1255, DeskJet 2742e, DeskJet 2755e and DeskJet 4155e, and the ENVY 6055e, ENVY 6075, ENVY 6455e and ENVY Pro 6455e. They run from 2020 to 2022 and share the 67 and 67XL cartridges between them.

The XL is worth buying here, and it will not rescue the running cost. This cartridge is rated at about 100 pages and lists at $23.99, which is 23.99c a color page. The 67XL tri-color prints about 200 pages for $36.99, or 18.50c, so the upgrade takes about 23 percent off each page. The black side behaves the same way, 19.16c for the standard 67 black against 15.00c for the 67XL. What no cartridge choice fixes is the level: even the XL colour page here is the most expensive in our catalogue, so the size decision is the small one on this machine.

All eight printers are on our firmware lockout list, and six of them carry HP+ rather than plain Dynamic Security. The HP+ enrolment is the part that bites: accepting it at setup commits that printer to Original HP cartridges for the rest of its working life, and it cannot be undone afterwards. A compatible 67 will not work in a printer enrolled in HP+. On the DeskJet 1255 and the ENVY 6075, which are Dynamic Security models without the HP+ enrolment, third-party cartridges can work, but a firmware update can still change that, so turn automatic updates off and buy from a seller who states current firmware compatibility.

When one of these printers stops recognizing a genuine 67, the contacts are the usual cause. Take the cartridge out, make sure the tape is off, wipe the copper contacts with a dry lint-free cloth, reseat it until it clicks and power cycle with the plug pulled for a minute. A message that appears the instant a compatible cartridge goes in and never clears is a different animal and points at the firmware instead. If one color has vanished from your prints while the others look fine, that is a blocked nozzle rather than an empty cartridge, so run a cleaning cycle and a nozzle check before you buy a replacement.